So it’s that time of year… the evenings are darker and the nights turning colder, the decorations are up and you’ve already eaten far too many mince pies!Now that the festive season has taken hold I wanted to take the opportunity to blog about Christmas time at Michelmores. For some of the first year trainees this year will be the first we have worked right up to Christmas (cue momentary reminiscing about being a carefree student). I wanted to dispel the myth that being at work in the run up to Christmas dampens the festive spirit (well not at Michelmores anyway!).
The Christmas Bazaar
The Christmas Bazaar is an annual event organised by the first year trainees. It’s a great opportunity to work with the other trainees as well as other people in the firm. Whilst this may sound daunting, the event comes together quite easily with a bit of team work! This year a selection of stallholders (both internal and external) came to the Exeter office to sell their wonderful products. This was coupled with mulled wine and mince pies, a performance by the Michelmores choir (the Minstrelmores) and a visit from Santa to draw the raffle. We had a tremendous response to the raffle, with prizes on offer from holiday cottages to hampers, first class train tickets and the ever popular extra day off work. The event as a whole raised almost £2,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
The Christmas Party
The Michelmores Summer Ball is the main office-wide social event, but Michelmores still puts on a great Christmas party. Each team went out for a meal before all coming together afterwards for a drink and a dance. This year the party was held at Exeter Castle, with Michelmores’ very own in-house band ‘The Disclaimers’ performing.
Drinks, drinks and more drinks and a huge Christmas tree…
There is a whole host of other social get-togethers over the course of December too, whether within individual teams with other professionals or junior lawyers or at the Michelmores Christmas staff drinks and awards – there are plenty of opportunities to get in the festive spirit. To top it off there is a huge Christmas tree in the foyer which makes you feel Christmassy every time you walk past it! There is certainly a lot going on here in December and plenty of chances to don your best Christmas jumper.
From all of the trainees at Michelmores, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
